Finding Your Photography Mentors

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Thank your for visiting my photoblog today. As mentioned in previous posts I’m an Apprentice in The Arcanum and to supplement my learning, I’ve reached out to multiple YouTube channels in the past. At first to learn my new (or wishlist) gear and now for image processing. The latter is the subject of today’s post.

Below are sample images created using Photoshop and the Topaz Labs – Glow plug-in. As I study a new technique for image processing, I immediately apply it to cement the learning. Often this takes multiple practice runs as believe me it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks yet the dog keeps trying.

Blake Rudis’ video explains the above image processing technique in clear and precise terms which are summarized to lockdown the exchange between the teacher and the viewer. This is one of Blake’s forte as an artist turned photographer turned teacher. Thanks Blake.

Here are my sample images using the Topaz Labs Glow with its Neon “Glowing Wires II” preset. As you double-click to assess the inter-workings of the preset, 20+ sliders appear – wow now what. It’s a learning curve to understand what each slider does so I just throw it to the left then back to the right – okay now I understand. In the end, adjust to your artistic taste, no right or wrong.

So I’ve told you where I am today but how did I get here.

At first, I needed to expand my knowledge of Photography so I watched many YouTube videos being a visual-learning guy. This gave me the "breath" of knowledge yet I lacked the "depth" to become effective.
So I fine-tuned my YouTube channels to a few thus adding the "depth" to execute intermediate to advanced image processing.